University lecturer 'can't fail' students

A University of Western Sydney economics lecturer says he is 'extremely angry' that the university is investigating him for serious misconduct.

Professor Steve Keen told his final year students last year he could not fail any of them because the university had abolished the economics faculty and they would have no way of re-taking his class.

Professor Keen says the university is over-reacting to the flippant comment and is now delaying his request for voluntary redundancy.

"When they define serious misconduct in their enterprise agreement they give examples such as repeated sexual harassment, repeated bullying, fraud and theft," he said.

"I think this is just a ridiculous classification of my obviously slightly irresponsible but clearly under pressure statement as being in the same class as repeated sexual harassment bullying and theft."

In a statement, a spokeswoman for the University of Western Sydney said Professor Keen's statement that students would not be able to re-sit their subjects or complete their degree was "completely false".

The spokeswoman says there will be no detrimental impact on current students and their academic progression, saying the university is offering a major and sub-major in economics as part of its Bachelor of Business and Commerce degree.

The spokeswoman also said the university takes any allegation of 'soft marking' seriously.

She says the university is obligated to report any alleged breach of academic standards to the Federal Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) and the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) for investigation.